Spook of the Thirteenth Lock & The 16 Electric Guitars Orchestra

Named after a poem about a haunted canal lock, The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock combine elements of the Irish folk tradition with modern experimental rock sounds. They have released two albums to date, 2008’s eponymous debut and 2012’s “The Brutal Here and Now” on Transduction Records.

Spook Guitar Orchestra:

“Lockout” and “Bullet in the Brick” are two new large-scale works by The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock about the 1913 Lockout and the 1916 rising respectively. For these projects the band are joined by an electric guitar orchestra, bringing this unique sound into the world of contemporary Irish traditional music. “Lockout” is a grand departure for the band, bringing an epic volume and scale to their unique blend of contemporary and traditional sounds, and adding a sharper, more political voice which addresses the recent anniversary of the Lockout, and its relevance today.

This september the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival acknowledge the Centenary of 1916 with a performance of a piece written by the critically acclaimed genre defying Trad/prog metal band Spook of the Thirteenth Lock for 16 guitars.

The Spook Guitar Orchestra will perform ‘The Bullet in the Brick’, material based on the story of the 1916 rising comprising 3 parts

1/ A Destroyer on the Liffey – The story of the rising told with a focus on the Helga, the gun boat that bombed Dublin city centre.

2/ The Bullet in the Brick – describing Francis Sheehy Skeffington’s murder by British troops

3/ A Proclamation – elements of the proclamation set to music

In addition to this the Spook Orchestra will perform ‘Lockout’ a 50 minute piece on the 1913 lockout which gives context to the 1916 rising – The rise of socialism in Dublin led by Connolly and Larkin, arising from life in the worst slums of Europe at the time leading to the formation of the Irish Citizen Army, key fighters in the rising and the source of the radical aspirational nature of the proclamation, the parts that ring truest today.